Sununu On Thin Ice, Insiders Say

November 27, 1991|By Timothy J. McNulty, Chicago Tribune.

WASHINGTON — Despite public declarations of faith in his chief of staff, President Bush now believes John Sununu is a liability in his re-election campaign, according to administration officials and Bush intimates, who claim the president is hoping to ease the abrasive Sununu out of his White House post rather than fire him.

Transportation Secretary Sam Skinner, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago, is one of two most likely candidates for the sensitive job that would combine running the White House staff with being a key player in Bush`s 1992 campaign. Another possible replacement is business executive Fred Malek, a former Nixon aide and one of Bush`s personal friends, who was already expected to help manage the president`s national campaign.

There is no timetable for Sununu`s departure, and he may well keep his job into the new year.

Some of Bush`s closest friends even argue that Sununu should stay until after Bush is re-elected to avoid the impression of confusion at the top.

Sununu`s influence as a gatekeeper to the Oval Office has been severely diminished. But how long he stays in the White House depends partly on how difficult it is for the president to move into his political campaign.

Asked Tuesday if Sununu`s job was safe, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater told reporters: ``I don`t have any indication to the contrary. As far as I know he`s on the job, he`s been here three years and he`ll be here much longer.``

Bush is unlikely to force out Sununu while both men are under public pressure. In the past, the president, a World War II combat pilot, has described his attitude toward friends and staffers this way: ``You don`t peel away from your wingman when he`s under fire.``

The president is under severe political pressure right now. His personal popularity is in a steep slide-two national polls this week showed him at the lowest point of his presidency-and other Republicans are calling on him to be more active in invigorating the economy. At least two of Bush`s children have warned the president he has become too isolated from the concerns of average Americans.

Replacing his chief of staff won`t solve most of those problems, but it will signal that Bush is in a new phase of his presidency. He may need that to help convince the nation of his competence in dealing with domestic issues.

Sununu, too, has been under pressure, first for using goverment aircraft for personal business and more recently for failing to protect his boss from political missteps.

In recent weeks, Sununu has repeatedly discounted reports that he is in trouble and insisted he will run the president`s re-election campaign from his corner suite of offices in the White House. He helped Bush win the New Hampshire primary in 1988, and next year Bush may face a challenge there from columnist Patrick Buchanan, who could siphon off some conservative votes.

Some Bush supporters were irked at Sununu after it was reported that he had inserted a sentence into a presidential speech suggesting a cap on credit card interest rates-a remark that resulted in an embarrassing administration flip-flop. When Sununu shifted the blame from himself last weekend by saying

``the president ad-libbed`` the interest rate line, Bush`s supporters were even more irate.

Apparently feeling the pressure, Sununu on Sunday brought his wife and one of his eight children to the White House to greet Bush in front of the TV cameras on the president`s return from Camp David.

As Bush walked into the White House, he gave a silent thumbs-up signal when asked about Sununu.

But a string of embarrassing mistakes by Bush and his administration has been undermining Sununu`s stature. And last week Fitzwater had to deny reports that people expected to be senior campaign staffers are refusing to report to Sununu.

Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher has had several run-ins with Sununu, and top Bush advisers such as Robert Teeter are known to loathe dealing with the arrogant former governor of New Hampshire.

The president is uncomfortable in confronting Sununu, according to the sources, and instead would prefer his chief of staff to ``get the message.``

One possible transition out of the White House would be for Sununu to run for the seat of Republican Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire if Rudman decides to retire next year. Sununu also is believed to have standing offers from several companies in the private sector.

If calm returns to the White House, and if Sununu doesn`t find a graceful way to resign, the sources said, it may be up to Bush`s closest friend, Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to tell the chief of staff his services are no longer needed.

The assessment that Sununu is hurting the president comes from Republican officials both within the administration and on Capitol Hill, where Sununu has ridden roughshod over some of Bush`s main supporters.